Tag: gbagbo

This week also, nine newspapers opposed to Mr. Gbagbo closed, saying they could no longer withstand police harassment and constant threats of violence against their journalists. “They’ve been summoned repeatedly by the Crime Squad” of the Gbagbo government, said a spokesman for the papers, Dembele Al Seni.

Not too many Americans seem worried, either, that in 2009 – the latest year for which detailed statistics are available – there were 13,636 murders in the US, 9,146 of which were caused by firearms…..
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Now, I don’t at all want the Ivory Coast to be invaded! But I am sure that if Gbagbo became aware that a serious and credible military threat existed against him, the deterrent effect that would have on him would be considerable. Unless he is bent on suicide, he must take notice. He must remember what happened to Saddam Hussein.

“Laurent Gbagbo and his wife have their destiny in their hands. If before the end of the week there – Laurent Gbagbo – who has not left his position in violation of the will of the Ivorian people, they will be named in the list of sanctions ” , said the French president at a press conference on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels.

More important, once when my little 8-year-old son was separated momentarily from the rest of the family during a shopping spree in Abidjan, and found himself lost, he was able to take a taxi to where the family’s host worked — a huge international bank– and get him to come down, while the taxi driver waited patiently! Not a hair on his young head was harmed, and he did it all without being able to speak a word of French.

I’ve often wondered, in retrospective terror, how the taxi driver had the goodness of heart not to worry about getting paid?

That was the wonderful country that Cote d’Ivoire that was. Its people were generally friendly and open; and its ability to attract tourists was unbeatable.